EA Pacific
| Formerly | Mastertronic International Inc. (1986–1989) Virgin Mastertronic International (1989–1991) Virgin Games, Inc. (1991–1993) Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc. (1993–1995) Burst Studios (1995–1998) Westwood Pacific (1998–2003) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Fate | Dissolved, operation merged into EA Los Angeles |
| Successor | Danger Close Games |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California |
| Parent | Mastertronic (1986–1988) Virgin Mastertronic (1989–1991 Virgin Interactive North America (1991–1998) Westwood Studios (1998–2003) |
EA Pacific (formerly known as first the internal American development divisions of Mastertronic and Virgin Games, then Burst Studios and Westwood Pacific) was a developer formally owned by Virgin Interactive's North American operations, and was based in Irvine, California.
The company was initially founded in 1986 as a subsidiary of Mastertronic, and Randall Masteller was the first programmer hired at the studio.[1] Masteller was later hired by Graeme Devine, who was a close friend of Masteller.[2] Over time, the company hired more employers like Darren Bartlett, David Perry and John Botti, all of these Virgin development executives had left to form their own studios.[3][4] The development division then adopted the Burst name in 1995 as recommended by producer Neil Young.[5]
Burst Studios was beset by production problems during its early years; Virgin Interactive's president of worldwide publishing, Brett W. Sperry, commented in 1997, "The way the Burst studio was structured made a lot of sense on paper, but for a variety of reasons, it wasn't delivering product at the end of the day."[6] Burst Studios was acquired by Electronic Arts together with Westwood Studios and Virgin's North American publishing operations in August 1998.[7] The company was later renamed to Westwood Pacific, under that name, the company developed or co-developed games like Nox and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.
It was later renamed to EA Pacific. Some actual Westwood Studios employees were still working with the studio. One of the senior modelers, who worked on Command & Conquer (1995), was part of the Command & Conquer: Generals (2003) team.[8]
EA Pacific was absorbed into EA Los Angeles in 2003. Some employees then went to Petroglyph Games.
Technology
[edit]EA started development on a new 3D engine in 2001, commonly known as the Strategy Action Game Engine (SAGE). It was based on Westwood Studios's W3D engine, which was in turn a major modification of the SurRender 3D engine developed by Hybrid Graphics Ltd.[9] Westwood first used W3D on their first-person shooter Command & Conquer: Renegade and their massively multiplayer online role-playing game Earth & Beyond.[10][11]
The first game utilizing this engine would be Command & Conquer: Generals, which would be developed under EA Pacific and finished by EA Los Angeles. The updated SAGE engine allowed for dynamic lighting that would cast realistic shadows and reflections on most objects, as well as higher quality visual effects and a stop-motion camera feature. The SAGE engine would continue to be used by EA Los Angeles on additional titles in the Command & Conquer series and on the real-time strategy series The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth.
With the release of later Command & Conquer (Command & Conquer 3 and onwards, the engine underwent a large overhaul of its major systems. Major upgrades included support for the PlayStation 3, an upgrade of the renderer to RNA, dynamic environmental music, and numerous minor internal improvements. A common misconception was that the new engine itself was called RNA when in fact RNA only referred to the renderer. The last title to use the SAGE engine was Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight.
Games
[edit]Cancelled
[edit]- Freak Boy
References
[edit]- ^ Guter, Anthony (2024-10-04). "Mastertronic Style - Part 3, New labels - MAD, Bulldog, Entertainment USA". Mastertronic Collectors Archive. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ Campbell, Colin (2013-12-04). "The 7th Guest and the Solitaire trap". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Interview: Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson (Virgin Int. VP of Product Dev.) – Sega-16". 2006-03-28. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ arcadeattack (2016-01-10). "David Perry (Virgin Games) - Interview". Arcade Attack. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Best Of GDC: Paul Steed On 'The Trip' From Artist to Entrepreneur". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ "Cleaning Time: Corporations Slim Down". Next Generation. No. 31. Imagine Media. July 1997. p. 23.
- ^ Morris, Chris (August 17, 1998). "Electronic Arts buys Westwood Studios". CNNMoney. CNN. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Chris Remo: Interview: Inside The Heritage Of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Gamasutra, October 24, 2008
- ^ Majik 3D Project announces co-operation with Taika Technologies, Ltd.[usurped] - SurRender 3D is one of the leading 3D libraries on the market and is currently being used in many commercial titles such as Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer: Renegade.
- ^ Gregory, Jason (15 June 2009). Game Engine Architecture. CRC Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-4398-7918-4.
- ^ Lennart "TaxOwlbear" Bachman (February 7, 2019). "Emperor: Battle for Dune". hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
Powered by the W3D engine, it was Westwood's first 3D game. W3D was supposed to be used for Command & Conquer 3: Incursion, the sequel to Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.
